10 Unbreakable Baseball Records? Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. With the creation of relief pitchers, set-up men, and closers, a record of winning 59 games in a season by a pitcher may seem rather far fetched. Which pitcher did do this in 1884?

Answer: Charley Radbourn

The others never won even 40 games in a season. Radbourn started 73 of the 112 games for the NL Providence Grays in 1884. He went 59-12 in the season. Compare this with 2008 Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum of the Giants, who started 25 games in 2009. This was almost 1/3 of the games started by Radbourn. Only three players reached 50 wins in a season in the 1880s.

The other two were John Clarkson and Guy Hecker.

2. Yankee Clipper Joe DiMaggio set a record for having at least one hit in how many consecutive games in Major League Baseball?

Answer: 56

DiMaggio's streak of 56 consecutive games with a hit is another of those 'probably will never be broken' records. Joe did it in 1941 with 91 total hits in those 56 games. Pete Rose received a lot of publicity for giving DiMaggio a run for his money, but in reality fell quite a bit short. Rose's streak of 44 games came in 1978. Pete had 66 hits in those 44 games, a far less hitting comparison than Joe.

3. Pitcher Randy Johnson became baseball's 24th 300-game winner in 2009. With the structure and rules of baseball, it is possible that he will be the last one. With that in mind, whose record of 511 career wins is incredibly untouchable?

Answer: Cy Young

The others didn't win 350. Both Walter Johnson and Cy Young won over 400 games, and in over 125 years of professional baseball, they were the only ones to reach that marker. In the early days of baseball, it was common for a pitcher to throw most of the team's games in a season. With so many pitchers on team rosters in today's baseball compared to only a few in the past, there won't be enough wins to go around for everyone. Young retired in 1911, and had the Cy Young Award named in his honor in 1956.

4. In the late 1880s for the most part, the game was structured for the hitters, and stolen bases were flying like birds over a beach. 12 times someone stole 100+ bases in a season during that era. With rule and structure changes, it would be 73 seasons before someone would steal 100 again. That would be Maury Wills who stole 104 in 1962. Whose modern day record of 130 in a season will likely be untouched?

Answer: Rickey Henderson

Henderson stole 130 bases for the Athletics in 1982. He reached the 100-mark three times in his career from 1979-2003, and stole an incredible 1406 in his career. When he retired in 2003, no other player had reached even 1000 stolen bases.

5. Throwing a no-hitter in baseball is a pretty rare feat, but to throw two no-hitters in consecutive starts would seem to be an untouchable record. It happened only one time in 100 seasons of Major League Baseball. Who was the pitcher that did this?

Answer: Johnny Vander Meer

Vander Meer played mostly for the Cincinnati Reds from 1937-1951. In his second season in 1938, he threw consecutive no-hitters. On June 11 he took the Boston Braves down 3-0, then on June 15 he no-hit the Brooklyn Dodgers 6-0. Johnny went 15-10 in the season, and ironically allowed 177 hits.

6. Baseball fans were in awe in the 1920s as they watched the New York Yankees go to six World Series in the decade. This was a feat that seemed unlikely to duplicate. However, a new Yankee powerhouse team emerged in 1936 when the team went to seven World Series in eight seasons. Far beyond that is an untouchable record that the Yankees pulled off again, this time going to 14 World Series in 16 seasons from 1949-1964. Casey Stengel was one of two managers in this span. Who was the other?

Answer: Ralph Houk

Although the Yankees had shown dynasty numbers throughout the history of their franchise, an amazing 14 appearances in a 16-season span is one of those ridiculous way far and beyond records of the game. Stengel had the team from 1949-1960, then Houk moved in for another four World Series appearances.

The Yankees won nine of the series in that span. They did not appear in the 1954 or 1959 World Series.

7. How does a pitcher lose 48 games in a season? In the first half of the century, nobody lost even 30 games in a season, and between 1950 and 2000, no pitcher lost 25 in a season. This record of 48 is outrageously untouchable, and was set in 1883 by which pitcher?

Answer: John Coleman

The others did not begin their Major League careers for another 50 years. Coleman pitched in only six seasons, and his 12-48 rookie record was his worst. He never lost 20 games again. He was a Philadelphia Quaker (later Phillies) in the National League in 1883. He retired with a 23-72 career record.

8. Major League Baseball saw only two batting greats who had more than 4000 career hits before the turn of the century, in a seemingly unreachable record. To reach 4256 is even more unthinkable. The two players to bang out 4000 hits were Ty Cobb and which other player who retired with 4256?

Answer: Pete Rose

The others did not have 2500 hits in their careers. In September 1985, Rose broke Cobb's 58-season record for hits. Pete went on to retire with 4256 career hits. In 2009, only one player who passed the 2700-hit mark in the season at age 35, had a 2% of breaking Rose's record. Derek Jeter provided his 2700th hit in August. For Derek to surpass Rose, he would have to maintain 150 hits per season for over 10 seasons. Maintaining those numbers and playing until one is 45 is nearly impossible. Jeter's 2700 hits came over 15 seasons.

9. In 2003, it was the Detroit Tigers turn to be horrendous. Nothing would go right for the team and they lost 119 games in the season, setting a new American League record. A record likely to never be duplicated is a team that lost 134 games in one season, and that was with playing in a 154-game season, unlike the Tigers' 162-game season. Which team went 20-134 in one season?

Answer: Cleveland Spiders

From 1887-1889, the Spiders finished second in the National League three times. However, things fell apart after the 1898 season. The owner of the Spiders also owned the St. Louis Perfectos of the National League, and he tried to pack one team with nothing but stars.

In 1899, most of the Spiders defected (per their owner) to the Perfectos, including all but one of the Spiders' starting lineup. Cy Young was also involved with the jump to St. Louis. No 1899 Cleveland starter batted .300, an almost unheard of feat in the early days of baseball, and no pitcher won more than five games in the season.

10. Passing away at the age of 93, this manager gave well more than half his life to managing a baseball team. He managed for 53 seasons, an unthinkable record to ever duplicate. Who was this manager?

Answer: Connie Mack

The others didn't manage for even 25 seasons. Cornelius Alexander Mack was born in 1862. From 1896-1898, Mack had the controls of the Pittsburgh Pirates. From 1901-1950, he was at the helm of the Philadelphia Athletics in the American League. The only other manager in that era was John McGraw who managed for 'only' 33 seasons.

In 2009, Tony LaRussa was the next in line with 31 seasons under his belt. For Tony to surpass Mr. Mack, he would have to manage consecutively until he was 88 years old. With so many franchises who change managers as often as socks, this is not a legitimate goal.

Source: Author Nightmare

This quiz was reviewed by our editing team before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

All records are made to be broken. However, with the changing of rules, monitoring the use of substances, and the restructuring of the game itself, these seem more than safe to stand. See if you can identify these records. Have fun with it! :)

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